Charities seem to agree that their fundraising budgets are best spent on direct mail and television – and that digital holds less attraction for them than for many advertisers.

According to reports issued towards the end of last year, UK charities spent £349m on Advertising in 2014 – with 61% of the total going on direct mail.

The research (by nfpSynergy) involved analysing charities advertising spend over the past eight years.

The results showed:

Last year, UK charities spent the second highest amount in the last eight years on advertising: a total of £394.4m, which was just under the £400m spent in 2011.

It also found that the majority of charities spend most of their advertising budgets on direct mail: In 2013, they spent £238.9m; an average of 69% of their total spend since 2006.

The report also highlighted the interesting fact that UK charities spend just 2% of their advertising budgets on internet ads.

This is a percentage that has only risen by 1% since 2006. Whereas in the rest of the advertising industry, spend on internet advertising has continued to increase since 2010. In 2013 internet advertising was worth 46% (£14 billion) increasing by 29% since 2006.

Over the years, charities have regularly turned to direct mail as a cost-effective route to market.

However, charities must be careful when creating direct mail shots to ensure that their data is up-to-date. In 2014, it was also reported that direct mail is the most complained about charity tactic.

The report also notes that charities are continuing to increase their spend on television advertising by 20% – spending £77.1m in 2013. Clearly, this suggests that the sector is not frugal with their advertising budgets and instead find that television and direct mail advertising in particular offer best return on investment.